Tracing the Style in Lee Daniels' The Butler

They say the clothes make the man. And in the awkwardly titled movie Lee Daniels' The Butler, Forest Whitaker plays Cecil Gaines, a man who trades the mud-soaked clothes of his sharecropper past for the tuxedo and tails of a White House domestic servant. Over the course of five presidencies, Gaines carries silver trays to the most powerful men in the country, from Dwight Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan.

Ruth Carter

His elegant fashions evolve over each administration, thanks to the meticulous research and needlework of Ruth Carter, the Oscar-nominated costume designer whose credits include Amistad and Malcolm X. "The challenge was to make sure we were accurate," she says. "There's nothing worse than a historical piece that's inaccurate."

Carter also had extra incentive to keep things authentic: The movie is based on the true story of the late Eugene Allen, whose tale was made into a movie after Wil Haygood, a reporter for The Washington Post, profiled the African American butler to eight consecutive presidents. (The movie condenses it to five for the sake of the narrative arc.) "It's entertainment," she says, "but it's someone's life."

In pursuit of that all-important authenticity, the costume designer studied old issues of Esquire and Ebony magazines, White House archives, and Allen's private collection of photos and presidential memorabilia. Because as political changes roiled America, so did fashion trends that changed the taper of a tuxedo pant, the width of a bow tie, and the hemlines of dresses worn by Gaines's wife Gloria (played by Oprah Winfrey).

In the '50s, at a time when Jim Crow laws forced segregation, Gaines served his first president, Eisenhower (Robin Williams). The standard of dress was formal, and markedly traditional. For state dinners, he and other butlers wore "white tie service": a white tie, black tuxedo coat with tails, white pique vest, white shirt with panel front, and white gloves. Daytime service consisted of a black tuxedo with '50s-style wide lapels on the jacket.

Of course, things changed quickly. Much of the movie is shot in the '60s, a time when racial unrest grew and lapels shrunk. To balance that silhouette, pants lost their pleats and jackets shed their vents. Cummerbunds replaced vests, and bow ties got smaller (dropping from 2 1/4 inches to 1 1/2 inches, specifically). The look was James Bond-sleek.

Carter made all the tailcoats for the film, but was able to secure those period-perfect tuxes from contemporary designers thanks to something we're dubbing the Mad Men Effect. The show revived demand for mid-century style, and brands have been happy to oblige with appropriate offerings. For Carter, that meant that Hugo Boss was able to donate dozens of tuxedos and shirts that would look at home on Don Draper, while Ferragamo supplied shoes. "It saved my life," Carter says. "I had some money, but not enough."

In case you don't have your presidential succession down pat, here's where things get especially interesting for the sartorially minded: Carter also dressed actor James Marsden as none other than style icon John F. Kennedy, putting him in an Irish-green striped tie. In real life, Jackie Kennedy gave a similar tie to Allen after her husband's assassination. And as luck would have it, Carter was able to purchase a perfect replica from a store called Autumn Olive in Greenfield, Massachusetts.

James Marsden as John F. Kennedy in his Irish-green tie, inspired by his Irish roots. Illustration by Chloe Ji Yoon.

Next to take office was LBJ (Liev Schreiber), who had an entirely different style, both in his speeches and dress. "He was like a cowboy," Carter says, but a suited, presidential cowboy who wanted to feel dapper nonetheless. His trademark fashion flourish was a collar tab that sat below his ties, giving them a little lift and an arc appropriate for his lofty position. (He gave a shirt with a similar one to the real-life Allen.)

Schreiber, for his part, was so into his portrayal of the coarse-talking president that he insisted that his collar tab be placed at the precise point he had seen in a photo. "He didn't want it to be higher or lower. I had to adjust it a quarter of an inch," Carter says. "I am here for the actor. If you want me to get you a cup of coffee, you have a problem. But if you want me to adjust the collar bar by a quarter of an inch, I am into it."

Then came '70s fashions. While men throughout the country were stepping into Saturday Night Fever-style platform shoes and leisure suits, the butler uniform underwent more subtle sartorial changes. The 3-inch butterfly bow tie, for instance, was in vogue. "In the '70s, they went bananas with everything," Carter says. "You had the vents in the jackets, the curves in the waist, and the curves in the lapels. You could have it in powder blue." This wasn't necessarily a good thing. "The '50s tuxedo was so much more tasteful, more elegant."

Forest Whitaker as the butler, Cecil Gaines, in his youth, wearing a 1950s tailcoat for "white tie service." Illustration by Chloe Ji Yoon.

As for Forest Whitaker, the star of the show as Cecil Gaines: He was fun to dress, and always open to suggestions on how to make the butler seem authentic. For Carter, who began dressing actors 26 years ago when she didn't get a part in her college play, costume design is about creating character. To that end, she dug up a brown-and-grey Borsalino hat for Gaines, similar to the one worn by Allen, who was known as a dapper dresser both at work and during his off hours. "The butlers all belonged to the high-end clubs in Washington, D.C. — the golf clubs, the all-white clubs," she says. "They represented the White House. Their dress was very important. They were looked up to in their community."

She also gave the butler a pocket watch that was handed down from his father, who had died in the cotton fields, a link to Gaines' brutal segregated past. "Forest loved it," says Carter, who was impressed by his passion and artistry. "This is why I am in the business — for the actor, not the celebrity."

Speaking of actors and celebrity, Carter also dressed a bevy of female stars — Oprah as Gloria, Minka Kelly as Jackie Kennedy, and Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan, to name a few. It was fun, for sure, but she really enjoyed the finer details of dressing the men in The Butler. "I love the subtlety of men's clothing," she says, "how you pick out the ties, how the colors work in the shirt and suit."

The movie ends with the butler poised to attend the inauguration of President Obama as a guest, mirroring real life (on Jan 20, 2009 Eugene Allen, his son Charles, and the Post writer Haygood all attended the Inauguration of the President-elect). The butler wore a two-button steel gray suit, white shirt, and a Sinatra fedora. "He purchased it especially for the occasion," Haygood says. Apparently not one to shy away from a bit of luxury, he topped the outfit with a black cashmere overcoat. And the tie? It was Irish-green, with stripes — the one from Jackie.

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